Adverts

Adverts

I prefer to use rolling averages for player

TORONTO - Part of DeMar DeRozans summer improvement project involved writing out the ABCs for his daughter Diar a€” with his left hand.It was a chance to both spend some quality time with his 16-month-old, and to strengthen his weaker hand. All summer long, the Toronto Raptors all-star used his left hand to do things like eat, tie his shoes and carry his bags, all in an effort to become a more versatile player.When I was kid, I would be frustrated, I would always ask my dad why I couldnt do certain things with my left hand that I can do with my right. Just a curious kid. Ever since I was young I always tried to get as comfortable doing stuff with my left hand, DeRozan said Tuesday. So just reverting back to that, to when I was a kid, getting more comfortable. In a game, we naturally want to finish with our right hand, because thats our dominant hand, but just being comfortable doing it with our left hand, if you happen to need it.The 25-year-old wrote out the alphabet virtually every day during the summer, he said. It looked like my daughters writing, he said, prompting laughter from the couple dozen journalists at training camp.On whose writing is more legible: Were neck and neck right now.More laughter.DeRozan cracking jokes in front of the cameras says plenty about the once-shy Raptors guard who has evolved into a strong and vocal leader in his five seasons in Toronto. Before the Raptors took the Air Canada Centre for their opening day of camp Tuesday, coach Dwane Casey gave DeRozan the floor.DeRozan told his teammates Hey, lets have a good practice, this is where we start creating defensive habits, it starts now, not next week or after the first game, it starts today, Casey recounted. So that was huge too.I knew it was going to happen, I just didnt know when, because he was such a quiet kid, Casey said of DeRozans evolution. DeMar is a young man, hes a father, a proud father, family man, and a lot of that just goes right into maturity. We all want to rush it, especially in sports, but it something that just takes time.DeRozan took two big steps toward being a more mature player last season, said Casey a€” first, when Rudy Gay was traded to Sacramento last December, and then when he was named an all-star.I just thought last year after the trade, he just took off after that. He made huge strides and said Hey look, Im putting this team on my back, and were going with it.It kind of shifted over. . . Rudy was the guy so-to-speak and it just shifted over back to DeMar and to Kyle (Lowry) and I thought that gave him a voice in the locker-room.DeRozan is coming off a breakout season, leading the Raptors to their first post-season appearance in six years and then helping the United States to gold at the FIBA World Cup.For all he has accomplished, he still feels disrespected in some circles. Sports Illustrated put DeRozan 61st in the league in their pre-season rankings, lowest out of all the returning all-star players. He took to Twitter and wrote Real disrespectful! #ProveEm Those slights might as well be motivational slogans for DeRozan. Thats fine with me. I like having a chip on my shoulder. It just gives me another reason to work hard whatever it may be, it gives me another reason. I feel like theyre doing me a favour, honestly, he said.I dont let anything go over my head at all, Ill use every negative thing, not just about myself but my team, as motivation. You need to. Im never going to get comfortable with the accomplishments Ive made.DeRozans left-handed project was just latest in his neverending quest to improve.His experience with the American team at the World Cup was another chance to learn. It took him out of his comfort zone, he said, which he relished.Raptors GM Masai Ujiri met with DeRozan upon his return.I asked him what he had learned from his experience there, and to show you how hes matured as a person, he said he respects players that come off of the bench more just because thata€?s what he did there, said Ujiri. He treats them great anyway. But he said he has more respect and hed treat them with more respect because of what they have to do night in, night out when they are called upon. I thought that was great maturity on his part.Casey echoed Ujiris thoughts.I think thats going to be very important for him, to have empathy for his teammates. . . he already does. Hes one of the best teammates that guys could have, as a leader and as a star. Theres not a selfish bone in his body as far as not respecting guys at the end of the bench.The Raptors travelled to Vancouver on Tuesday and will continue camp in Burnaby, B.C., on Wednesday. Theyll host the Sacramento Kings on Sunday in their pre-season opener in Vancouver.NOTES: The Raptors had Brent Gleeson, a Navy Seal, speak to the Raptors on Monday night. He talked about his experience of being a navy seal and how teamwork has to be part of, in his business, living, Casey said. In our situation, its not as dire, not as serious, but a lot of things that he said, we can connect with as a team, togetherness, talking about trust, talking about communication, talking about togetherness. All those points hit home. Jamie Collins Jersey .com) - The Vancouver Canucks will try to win two straight games for the first time since mid-January on Monday night as they play host to the struggling New York Islanders. Rob Ninkovich Jersey . Louis Cardinals continued their offensive tear with a 9-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a four-game series. http://www.authenticpatriotsfanatic.com … ersey.aspx . -- Downcast before the final game of what had been a difficult road trip, the Ottawa Senators found a way to dig out a little momentum in the desert before heading home. Nate Solder Patriots Jersey . "All he says is, its crazy," DeMar DeRozan told reporters following Torontos win over the Pistons Wednesday. The Raptors longest-serving members, Johnson and DeRozan have had two coaches and 56 different teammates in five seasons with the club, all without appearing in a single playoff game. Jordan Richards Patriots Jersey . Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.Marc-Edouard Vlasic is one of the most intriguing players in the National Hockey League. Hes become a staple of the San Jose Sharks blue-line. He earned national recognition after being named to Team Canadas roster at the Sochi Games. And yet, despite consistent performance on the biggest stages, hes often left off of the list of the leagues best rearguards. One of the elements that seems to hold Vlasic back from proper consideration as an elite defender is that he doesnt necessarily fit neatly into the boxes used to describe his comparables. Players like P.K. Subban, Erik Karlsson, Drew Doughty, and Duncan Keith are recognized for their ability to create offensively and drive play territorially. Players like Zdeno Chara, Shea Weber, and Ryan Suter are more regarded for their ability to deter shot attempts and scoring chances, relatively excelling in the defensive zone. Generally, the above group of players – you can throw in Alex Pietrangelo, Mark Giordano and Ryan McDonagh – are talked about as the games best on the back end. I find the regular omission of Vlasic here odd, and I think its largely because hes a unique player. Theres no definitive aspect of his game that stands head and shoulders above everyone else. He doesnt have Erik Karlssons skating, or Zdeno Charas physicality, or Shea Webers slap shot. Hes just pretty good at – well, everything. Consider this simple plot of the top defenders performances over the last three seasons. Here, the x-axis is raw Corsi%, or the shot-share the players team had when he was on the ice. The y-axis is Goal%, or the goal-share the players team enjoyed when he was on the ice. The size of the bubble indicates 60-minute scoring rates. The larger the bubble, the more productive the scorer. These are fairly crude multi-year numbers, but the driving point here should be that Vlasic is right in the mix with some of hockeys finest. Here, Vlasic has enjoyed just over 54 per cent of the shot-share with his team on the ice, and just under 54 per cent of the goal-share. As an aside, other bubbles of note: Chara, for an older guy, has still more or less dominated (56 per cent of shot-share; 58 per cent of goal-share). Karlssons bubble is the size of Jupiter because his scoring rate is miles aand miles ahead of the competition.dddddddddddd. Its also remarkable to see how close Ryan McDonagh and P.K. Subban are here. Terrifyingly, Montreal could have had both. Back to Vlasic. Where I think he ultimately stands out is in his relative numbers, in which we can compare San Joses performance with the player on the ice as opposed to San Joses performance with the player off the ice. Intuitively speaking, if Vlasic was really driving play, wed see San Joses numbers spike when he takes a shift. So, lets take Marc-Edouard Vlasics Relative Corsi% over the last three years, and roll it over 10-game spans. I prefer to use rolling averages for player and team data analysis because it can smooth out short-term fluctuation and help identify longer-term trends. What we generally see with the leagues leading defenders is consistency over break-even or 0.0% Relative Corsi% - which is the threshold where a team sees the same shot-share with the player on the ice as off the ice. How does Vlasic fare? The games are chronologically ordered, starting in 2011 and 2014. Other than a small blip (games 43-50) where Vlasic was lagging behind the team average, hes generally been a positive Relative Corsi% player. And youll quickly notice the longer-term trend here, too – Vlasics numbers continue to rise above the team averages, which probably speak both to his improvement as a player, and San Joses reliance on him to drive play at even-strength. The latter part is interesting. While it speaks to Vlasics capabilities, it may also speak to San Joses capabilities – or, lack thereof – when Vlasic steps off the ice. San Joses still getting the better part of the shot-differential when Vlasics off (its a touch over 50 per cent over the last three seasons), but its considerably lagging behind what the teams accomplishing with Vlasic. For a team with legitimate Stanley Cup hopes, bringing their "without Vlasic" numbers closer to their "with Vlasic" numbers should be an organizational goal. All in all, it seems to me that Vlasic is one of the leagues premier defenders. San Joses recognized it. Team Canadas recognized it. But, the discussion of the leagues best defenders has far too often omitted the rock on San Joses back-end. Lets try and change that going forward. Cheap NFL JerseysWholesale JerseysWholesale NFL JerseysJerseys From ChinaWholesale NFL JerseysCheap NFL JerseysCheap Jerseys ' ' '